Alternative Narrative Structure

[sibilant]

Hello, back with another sort of odd question...  

At the moment, I'm writing a fic where I'm sort of experimenting with a different sort of narrative structure. The conventional narrative structure in my opinion is "Event A -> Event B -> Event C -> etc", all the events occurring in chronological order and being described as such. A different sort of narrative structure would be "Event B -> Event A -> Event C", where the chronology is changed to create a different sort of meaning. I'm curious if anyone knows of any fics or books that do this really well and what you think this lends to a story. If you've written a story that experiments with narrative structure like that, why did you decide to change the narrative structure? 

You can also change narrative structure in other ways, experimenting with POV and the form of storytelling you use. The best example I can come up with Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, where the narrative structure of the story changes in each chapter. The first chapter is a story that was told the author by her mother, retold in 3rd person with the main character of that story as the narrator. The second chapter is even more confusing; it's a story that was told to the author by her mother, but is told in 1st person. In both chapters, there were breaks from the narrative structure, where the author speaks about her own experiences, as the book is a memoir. The change in narrative structure brings the reader closer to the story and lends a different understanding of the sequence of events--it's really very clever. I can talk more about this. I've also read some excellent fics that were written in 2nd person perspective, which was very different. The best example I can think of is Aurore on HPFF (T). In Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, he also sort of does this--there are many times where he switches from first or third person to second person, and it always has the same effect: bringing the reader closer to the story and making the message more personal to the reader.  

I've also read some really cool epistolary novels, which is sort of what I mean by changing the form of storytelling. If you've ever tried that, I'd love to hear why you chose that as opposed to a typical form of storytelling.  Thoughts in general about any of this would be great--or observations of other, even more unique ways, to change the narrative structure!

[Alopex]

I'm not 100% sure if this is what you're after, but an example of a not-quite-chronological book (the best example I can think of off the top of my head) is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  It's not a quick read, and it's not exaaaaactly out of order--but it's not 100% in order chronologically either.  One thing that happens in that book is that we will hear of some event happening, but we don't learn how or why until much later.  The story goes off in what may seem like some other direction, but that is just building up to what we were told would happen.  It's also a bit like wandering through the different characters' memories (and they are maybe a little confused sometimes, or at least not focused on imparting all the information in the order a reader might expect).  The reader can also get confused by characters being named after each other.  Anyway, the structure of the story reinforces this idea or theme that time is circular or that history repeats itself or that the past/present/future are all entwined.  I'm not sure the best way to express that theme, but that's one thing I got out of the book.

[sibilant]

OH GOD. Thank you for mentioning this! I read One Hundred Years of Solitude last summer and it is a perfect example of experimenting with chronology. I absolutely agree with you; that reinforced the theme of time and history repeating itself. 

Man, that book was...crazy. I had to read it for school and I sent my teacher an email which was literally "...what." Lol. It was really a great book though  

[Alopex]

I volunteered to read it for school once (we had to pick a book off a list) and had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I picked it because we'd read some of his short stories in Spanish class.  It was one of the most challenging books I have ever read, honestly, but it left a definite impression on me.  Since I knew I'd have to write a report on it, I started out keeping notes--and I don't know how I would have sorted the events out otherwise or kept straight the seemingly 100 different Aurelianos (ok, I'm exaggerating a tad, but there were a LOT), never mind the other repeating-name characters.   It's fun to read a story that is different from the usual.  It's a structure that makes sense for a story that is designed to not quite make sense in some ways and that straddles this grey area of fantasy that feels like it is real.

When it comes to fanfiction, I'm not sure if you've ever read any of Violet/Violet_Gryffindor's writing, but I seem to remember (I could be wrong) she used to have a couple of stories (one-shots) that were told in a different time order, like the chapter broken up into 4 (or however many) pieces and rearranged so they weren't chronological.  I know I have seen that technique in fanfiction, though.

[Guest Tanda]

Reading your question, I remembered a novel, 'Kyoko' written by Ryu Murakami.

It's a story about a young woman who comes to New York City to find the Cuban-American GI, who taught her dancing salsa,  dying of AIDS. On her way to find him, she meets various people and the story is told from various people's POV, how they saw the person, Kyoko and how they felt and thought when they met her.

 

I recommend you to read the novel if you have a chance.

[ShazaLupin]

I've read a few books like this, I'm reading one now called History is all you left me by Adam Silvera.  Plot under spoiler tags just in case.

Spoiler

It's about a boy, and his ex-boyfriend has just died so it tells the story of how he's dealing with that and I assume things are going to happen as he's just met up with his ex's current boyfriend, I just haven't read that far  But for alternative narrative, every other chapter is a memory of him and his ex, starting from when they met and moving forward. So I assume the memories will catch up with the present day narrative at some point. 

Personally I love it when they're written put of order, or when there's other narratives to it, like letters or dreams. I think it can really add to a book and make it more interesting. It can add some confusion or mystery and then at the end you realise why it was done like that. 

I've read a fic that was all written as a text message, and it was so good. (I don't remember the name but I think it was @dirigibleplums who recommenced it on twitter?)  That was really interesting and completely changed the pace of the story. 

[poppunkpadfoot]

i personally really love experimenting with alternative narrative structure. my story edges is totally non-linear, and i actually based the structure of that one (fairly loosely) on the song it was inspired by! since the story is kind of plotless, and just follows the highs and lows of a relationship, i thought it would be easier to leave the impression i wanted if i didn't put the events in chronological order, and i didn't think chronological order would really service the story in any particular way.

i also have trapped, which is less of a non-chronological deal and more of a timeless deal. it's about sirius dealing with ptsd, and he's kind of unsure about what's reality and what's not, so i wanted the reader to be unsure as well. the structure of the story, of the sentences, everything, was designed to reflect that.

i definitely don't think i pulled off either one without a single hitch, but i'm also definitely pleased with how they both turned out

[sibilant]

@StarFeather Adding it to my to-read list! 

@ShazaLupin Also adding to my to-read list. I think that's an interesting point you make about it adding mystery and confusion--often times, when I read fics like this, I don't quite know what's happening until I finish reading the fic; then when I read over it again with a clearer understanding, all the subtle clues enhance my reading experience more. 

@poppunkpadfoot I read edges, and thought it was done excellently. You're right; in your case, the alternative narrative structure was perfect. I think it really upped the drama and captured the emotion better.